Oakland Stroke of Midnight

Tower of Power - So Very Hard to Go

Should old acquaintance be forgot, here's a concert turning 50 to blow your whole dang mind.

Ah yes, Oakland. The other city by the Bay. It gets a bad rap now, but it was once a cultural and sports mecca, you know.

Now all the teams are gone and half the stores are boarded up, but 50 years ago it was emerging from the shadow of San Francisco as its own thang.

Thanks to the American state religion of Predatory Corporate Feudal Subsidy Capitalism, the Athletics are gone to 115 degree Sacramento and the Raiders to the casino climes of Vegas.

The Warriors only went across the Bay but who cares? All of this is now dead to me even though I lived in the East Bay for 20 years and identify as an Oaklander, born in NYC as I might be.

But let's not lament the circuses the Mommy's Money Men left us with as they absconded with the scones, this is a party atmosphere y'all. Speaking of which, I can think of one thing that's still from Oakland that would make any city proud and primed to party.

These cats have been around since sliced bread first appeared, and they still play. How many among us can say such a thing? I'm like Leonard Cohen, I ache in the places where I used to play.

When you get to be my age, all concerts look and sound like this picture, unless you have your in-ear assisted listening device and your trusty, geriatric discount bifocals all in place.

And this is all before the drugz take effect.

Ah, there, that's better. I can almost see the horn section now.

And what could be more justifiably legendary than the horn section of the mighty Tower of Power?

Let's ring in the new at the dawn of winter like they did exactly five decades ago, in the storied SF venue called Winterland. I'm afraid I must insist!

Tower of Power

Winterland

San Francisco, California USA

12.31.1974

01 countdown & Auld Lang Syne

02 Oakland Stroke/Walkin' Up Hip Street

03 It's Not the Crime

04 This Time It's Real

05 Only So Much Oil In the Ground

06 Willing to Learn

07 Don't Change Horses (In the Middle of a Stream)

08 Give Me the Proof

09 So Very Hard to Go

10 I Believe In Myself

11 What Is Hip?

12 Knock Yourself Out

13 You're Still a Young Man

14 (To Say the Least) You're the Most

15 Down to the Nightclub

Total time: 1:17:18

Lenny Williams - vocals 

Francis "Rocco" Prestia - bass

Bruce Conte - guitar & vocals 

Chester Thompson - keyboards 

David Bartlett - drums 

Emilio Castillo - tenor saxophone & vocals 

Stephen "Doc" Kupka - baritone saxophone & vocals 

Lenny Pickett - flute, clarinet, saxophones & vocals 

Greg Adams - trumpet & flugelhorn 

Mic Gillette - trumpet, trombone & vocals

320/48k audio streamed from Wolfgang's Vault

spectral analysis is lossless to 20 kHz, making this essentially equivalent to a preFM source

converted to 16/44 CD Audio, edited, retracked, repaired & remastered by EN, Decemeber 2024
506 MB FLAC/direct link

That's it from me for December and 2024, and I hope you all dug it as much as I dug doing it for you. I've already got a couple of devastating items in store for January, including my first ever foray into the AI stem separation tech that's gonna revolutionize this ROIO stuff, just like I've been saying for eons. It's never easy, but try to take it as a positive Syne, and let's all spread best wishes for a fantastic 2025!--J.